The Basics of Health Insurance As you may know, health care costs are extremely high. The average person usually can’t afford to pay health care costs without some type of insurance. Without health insurance, large medical expenses could wipe out your savings or put you in debt. Watch this presentation to learn more about the basics of health insurance and how to protect yourself. View a printable version of this interactivity.

 

Don’t Forget About Life Insurance

You may be thinking or saying to yourself, “I’m young. I don’t have any kids yet. I’ll worry about life insurance when I’m older, married, or have children.” Although you shouldn't be overly worried about life insurance at your age, it won’t be long before you need to make some decisions about the type of life insurance that you may need. Have you ever known someone to die and the family is left to pay for the funeral? Where does this money come from? Additionally, the individual’s family now has to live without the money that was being earned by this person. How can the family or loved ones be protected? Life insurance protects people who financially depend on you in the unfortunate event of your death. This is extremely important if you are a wage earner and other individuals depend on the money that you earn. When you decide to purchase life insurance, you will be guaranteed a specific sum of money that will be paid to a designated beneficiary, the person you name to receive the benefits upon your death. What’s important to know before you purchase life insurance?

In order to qualify for life insurance, you must complete an application. On this application you will need to indicate the following information about whether you and/or your family has a history of any of the following:

This information helps determine your approval and premiums for your life insurance policy. You can always purchase your own individual life insurance policy. However, if you are employed, check to see if your employer offers a group life insurance plan that will allow you to participate. Now, let’s take a look at what type of policy you might want to buy.

Types of Life Insurance

The primary types of life insurance can usually be broken into two categories, temporary insurance that covers the insured for a certain period or term of their life and permanent insurance, which covers the insured person for their whole life. In both instances, the insured party is required to pay a premium for coverage. The two most commonly purchased types of life insurance are term or whole life. Roll your mouse over the two images below to take a look at the differences between term and whole life insurance.

Term

• Agreement or policy that offers protection for a specific period of time, usually in set increments of 5, 10, 20, or 30 years.
• If insured dies during the term specified on the policy, the insurance company pays the amount of money designated in the contract.
• More affordable for most individuals.
• Will often times meet your needs if you are young and single.
• Premiums may increase with age.

Whole Life

• Offers protection for the lifetime of the insured as long as premiums are paid.
• More expensive than term life insurance.
• Builds up a cash value.
• Can borrow against this policy at a later time if needed.
• Premiums do not increase with age after the purchase.

So, how is life insurance different than any other insurance you purchase? Life insurance pays beneficiaries for something that WILL happen, not for something that may happen!

Content Practice

Now that you have learned about health insurance and life insurance, it is time to test your knowledge with this non-graded interactivity. Click the player button to begin.